Overview
Paul Wischmeyer M.D., EDIC, FASPEN, FCCM is a nutrition, exercise, critical care, and perioperative physician-researcher who specializes in enhancing preparation and recovery from surgery, critical care and COVID-19. He serves as a Tenured Professor of Anesthesiology and Surgery at Duke. He also serves as the Associate Vice Chair for Clinical Research in the Dept. of Anesthesiology and Director of the TPN/Nutrition Team at Duke. Dr. Wischmeyer earned his medical degree with honors at The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he was elected into the honor society of Alpha Omega Alpha for outstanding academic achievement. He completed his pediatric internship at University of Colorado Children’s Hospital and his anesthesiology/critical care residency training at the University of Chicago. He also completed a Clinical Pharmacology fellowship and the NIH K30 Clinical Research Scientist Training Program while at University of Chicago.
Dr. Wischmeyer’s clinical and research focus is in critical care, perioperative care exercise, and nutrition to help patients prepare and recover from illness and surgery. His research interests include surgical and ICU nutrition and exercise rehabilitation; role of parenteral, enteral, and oral nutrition to improve patient outcomes; perioperative optimization; post-illness muscle mass and functional recovery; and probiotics/microbiome. His research interests have also recently been focused on COVID-19 research into COVID-19 metabolism, role of probiotics in COVID19 prevention and treatment, and exercise and nutrition programs to recover from COVID-19 and Long COVID-19. Dr. Wischmeyer’s research group has been awarded multiple NIH, DOD, and other peer reviewed grants to perform research ranging from basic mechanistic cell work to large-scale multi-center clinical trials in the fields of critical care, perioperative medicine, nutrition, illness metabolism, microbiome/probiotics, and exercise interventions to improve functional outcomes. For his research work and clinical work, Dr. Wischmeyer has received numerous awards from national and international societies including, The Jeffrey Silverstein Award and Memorial Lecture for Humanism in Medicine from the American Delirium Society, The John M. Kinney Award for the most significant contribution to field of general nutrition, the Stanley Dudrick Research Scholar Award by the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and The Lifetime Achievement Award of the International Parenteral Nutrition Society (IPENEMA) for significant contributions to the field of nutrition. Dr. Wischmeyer has over 200 peer-reviewed publications in critical care, anesthesiology, and nutrition, including in the New England Journal of Medicine. Finally, he has been an invited speaker at numerous national and international medical meetings delivering over 900 invited presentations over his career. He has an H-index of 73 with over 16,500 citations to his work, including 1 publication with > 1000 citations and 55 publications with > 100 citations. He is also the founder and director of the Duke Online Clinical Nutrition Fellowship, an international fellowship to provide clinical nutrition training to healthcare providers worldwide, as well as unique scholarship opportunities for healthcare providers in developing nations.
Dr. Wischmeyer passion for helping patients recover from illness and surgery arises from his personal experiences as both doctor and patient in the ICU. Dr. Wischmeyer has undergone over 27 major surgeries and personally experienced multiple ICU stays due to a childhood GI illness that took more than half of his intestinal tract. Thus, preparation for surgery/critical care and recovery from illness are a way of life for Dr. Wischmeyer that he is passionate about teaching his patients and other caregivers worldwide.
Current Appointments & Affiliations
Recent Publications
Relation of Malnutrition on Septic Older Adults in Emergency Gastrointestinal Surgery: A Modified Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition Analysis.
Journal Article J Surg Res · May 21, 2025 INTRODUCTION: Malnutrition in older adults has significant ramifications for surgical outcomes. The incidence of malnutrition is up to 30% in emergent gastrointestinal surgery (EGS). This study aims to investigate malnutrition's correlation on outcomes of ... Full text Link to item CiteSkeletal Muscle: A Critical Organ for Survival and Recovery in Critical Illness.
Journal Article Crit Care Clin · April 2025 The intensive care unit (ICU) environment is one of the most challenging for skeletal muscle health. Atrophy associated with clinical care is distinct from that seen with inactivity or immobilization in the absence of disease and is exacerbated by aging. T ... Full text Link to item CiteNovel Strategies to Promote Intensive Care Unit Recovery via Personalized Exercise, Nutrition, and Anabolic Interventions.
Journal Article Crit Care Clin · April 2025 Survivors of critical illness experience significant morbidity, reduced physiologic reserve, and long-term complications that negatively impact quality of life. Although rehabilitative treatments are beneficial during early recovery, there is limited evide ... Full text Link to item CiteRecent Grants
STUDY TO DEMONSTRATE THE SAFETY AND EFFICACY OF DEFENCATH-Pro00117427
Clinical TrialPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by CorMedix, Inc. · 2025 - 2030Unraveling effects of gut and blood microbial signatures on immune phenotypes and organ dysfunction in sepsis
ResearchCollaborator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2030Remotely Monitored, Mobile health-supported High Intensity Interval Training after COVID-19 Critical Illness (REMM HIIT-Covid19)
ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2021 - 2027View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
External Links
Paul Wischmeyer's Google Scholar Link and H-Index Paul Wischmeyer's LinkedIn Site Paul Wischmeyer's Twitter Site Paul Wischmeyer's Instagram Link Paul Wischmeyer's Researchgate Site Perioperative and Critical Care Nutrition Site for Patients and Providers Paul Wischmeyer's Lectures on YouTube Channel